Meanwhile, Ranthambhor had been recovered by Iltutmish in A.D. 1226 and a year later Mandawar in the Siwalik hills was captured by him. The Khalji Maliks of Bengal were reduced to complete submission in the winter of A.D. 1230-1231, and ‘Ala-ud-din Jani was appointed Governor of Lakhnauti. Gwalior, which had regained its independence since the death of Qutb-ud-din was recaptured by the Sultan towards the end of A.D. 1232 from its Hindu Raja, Mangal Deva. The Sultan invaded the kingdom of Malwa in 1234, and captured the fort of Bhilsa. He next marched to the famous city of Ujjain, which was also captured and sacked. An image of the famous Vikramaditya was carried off to Delhi. The last expedition of Iltutmish was directed against Banian, but on his way he was attacked with such a severe illness that he had to be carried back to Delhi in a litter. This disease proved fatal and he expired on the 29th April, 1236, after a reign of twenty-six years.
It was during the reign of Iltutmish, in the year A.D. 1221, that the Mongols appeared for the first time on the banks of the Indus, under their celebrated leader Chingiz Khan. Chingiz was born in A.D. 1155 and his original name was Temuchin. He was not merely a conqueror. Being trained in the school of adversity during his early days, he developed in himself the virtues of patience, courage and self-reliance, which enabled him to organise in an empire “the barbarous tribal communities of Central Asia and to found laws and institutions which lasted for generations after his death”. He overran the countries of Central and Western Asia with lightning rapidity, and when he attacked Jalal-ud-din Mangabarni, the last Shah of Khwarazm or Khiva, the latter fled to the Punjab and sought asylum in the dominions of Iltutmish, The Sultan of Delhi refused to comply with the request of his unwelcome guest. Mangabarni entered into an alliance with the Khokars, and after defeating Nasir-ud-din Qabacha of Multan, plundered Sind and northern Gujarat and went away to Persia. The Mongols also retired. India was thus saved from a terrible calamity, but the menace of Mongol raids disturbed the Sultans of Delhi in subsequent times.
Iltutmish may justly be regarded as the greatest ruler of the Early Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, which lasted till A.D. 1290. To him belongs the credit of having saved the infant Muslim dominion in India from disruption and of having consolidated the conquests of Qutb-ud-din into a strong and compact monarchyQutub Minar extending at his death over the whole of Hindustan, with the exception of a few outlying provinces. An intrepid warrior and a stern chastiser of foes, he was busy till the last year of his life in military conquests. He was at the same time gifted with brilliant qualities as a man and extended his patronage to arts and letters. The completion of the structure of the famous Qutb Minar at Delhi by the Sultan in A.D. 1231-1232 stands as an imperishable testimony to his greatness. The column was named not after the first Turkish Sultan of Delhi, as some writers wrongly hold, but after Khwaja Qutb-ud-din, a native of Ush near Baghdad, who had come to live in Hindustan and was held in much esteem and veneration by Iltutmish and others. It was out of gratitude that Iltutmish caused the names of his patrons, Sultan Qutb-ud-din and Sultan Mu’iz-ud-din, to be inscribed on it. A magnificent mosque was also built by the Sultan’s orders. He was intensely religious; and very particular about saying his prayers. “Never has a sovereign,” writes Minhaj-us-Siraj, “so virtuous, kind-hearted and reverent towards the learned and the divines, sat upon the throne.” He is described in some contemporary inscriptions as, “the protector of the lands of God”, “the helper of the servants of God”, etc.
Nasir-ud-din Mahmud, the eldest son of lltutmish, died in April, A.D. 1229, while governing Bengal as his father’s deputy. The surviving sons of the Sultan were incapable of the task of administration. Iltutmish, therefore, nominated on his death-bed his daughter Raziyya as his heiress. But the nobles of his court were too proud to bow their heads before a woman, and disregarding the deceased Sultan’s wishes, raised to the throne his eldest surviving son, Rukn-ud-din Firuz, who had been in charge of the government of Badaun, and after a few years, of Lahore, during his father’s lifetime. This was an unfortunate choice. Rukn-ud-din was unfit to rule. He indulged in low tastes, neglected the affairs of state, and squandered away its wealth. Matters were made worse by the activities of his mother, Shah Turkhan, an ambitious woman of humble origin, who seized all power while her son remained immersed in enjoyment. The whole kingdom was plunged into disorder,and the authority of the central government was set at naught in Badaun, Multan, Hansi, Lahore, Oudh and Bengal. The nobles of Delhi, who had been seething with discontent about the undue influence of the queen-mother, made her a prisoner and placed Raziyya on the throne of Delhi. Rukn-ud-din Firuz, who had taken refuge at Kilokhri, was also put in prison, where he met his doom on the 9th November, A.D. 1236.
The task before the young queen was not an easy one. Muhammad Junaidi, the wazir of the kingdom, and some other nobles, could not reconcile themselves to the rule of a woman and organised an opposition against her. But Raziyya was not devoid of the virtues necessary in a ruler, and by astuteness and superior diplomacy she soon overpowered her enemies. Her authority was established over Hindustan and the Punjab, and the governors of the distant provinces of Bengal and Sind also acknowledged her sway. Thus, as Minhaj-us-Siraj has stated, “From Lakhnauti to Debal and Damrilah all the Maliks and Amirs manifested their obedience and submission”. During the early part of Raziyya’s reign, an organised attempt to create trouble was made by some heretics of the Qiramitah and Mulahidah sects, under the leadership of a Turk named Nur-ud-din. One thousand of them arrived with swords and shields, and entered the Great Mosque on a fixed day, but they were dispersed by the royal troops and the outbreak ended in a ludicrous fiasco.
The queen was not, however, destined to enjoy a peaceful reign. The undue favour shown by her to the Abyssinian slave Jalal-ud- din Yaqut, who was elevated to the post of master of the stables, offended the Turkish nobles, who were organised in a close corporation. The first to revolt openly was Ikhtiyar-ud-din Altuniya, the governor of Sarhind, who was secretly instigated by some nobles of the court. The queen marched with a large army to suppress the revolt, but in the conflict that ensued the rebel nobles slew Yaqut, and imprisoned her. She was placed in charge of Altuniya, and her brother Mu`iz-ud-din Bahram was proclaimed Sultan of Delhi. Raziyya tried to extricate herself from the critical situation by marrying Altuniya, but to no effect. She marched with her husband towards Delhi, but on arriving near Kaithal she was deserted by the followers of Altuniya and defeated on the 13th October, 1240, by Mu`iz-ud-din Bahram. She was put to death with her husband the next day. Thus the life of the queen Raziyya ended miserably after a reign of three years and a few royal months.
Raziyya was possessed of remarkable talents. Ferishta writes that “she read the Koran with correct pronunciation, and in her father’s lifetime employed herself in the affairs of the Government “. As a queen, she tried to display her virtues more prominently. According to the contemporary Muslim chronicler, Minhaj-us-Siraj, she “was a great sovereign, sagacious, just, beneficent, the patron of the learned, a dispenser of justice, the cherisher of her subjects, and of warlike talent, and was endowed with all the admirable attributes and qualifications necessary for Kings”. She marched in person against her enemies, set aside female garments, discarded the veil, “donned the tunic and assumed the head-dress of a man” and conducted the affairs of her Government with considerable ability in open darbar. Thus she endeavoured to “play the king” in all possible ways. But the proud Turkish nobles could not reconcile themselves to the rule of a woman and brought about her downfall in an ignominious manner. The tragic end of Raziyya clearly shows that it is not always very easy to overcome popular prejudice.
The removal of Raziyya was followed by a period of disorder and confusion. Her successors on the throne of Delhi, Mu’iz-ud-din Bahram and ‘Ala-ud-din Ma`sud, were worthless and incompetent, and during the six years of their rule the country knew no peace and tranquillity. Foreign invasions added to the woes of Hindustan. In A.D. 1241 the Mongols entered into the heart of the Punjab, and the fair city of Lahore “fell into their merciless grip”. In 1245 they advanced up to Uch but were repulsed with great loss. During the closing years of the reign of Ma`sud Shah discontent grew in volume and intensity. The Amirs and Maliks raised to the throne Nasir-ud-din Mahmud, a younger son of Iltutmish, on l0th June, 1246.